Last updated: March 10, 2022
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Judith Córdova
Judith S. Córdova grew up with her four siblings and parents in Colorado in the 1950s and 1960s. Her family is of Mexican and Native American descent. Córdova remembers seeing “No Mexicans Allowed” signs in her Denver-area neighborhood. In an attempt to help them assimilate, her parents didn’t teach the children to speak Spanish.
Córdova graduated from high school in 1969. She married Alejandro Rojas in November 1971. They had three children. She began working for the National Park Service (NPS) as a voucher examiner at the Denver Service Center (DSC) in 1974. After two years she resigned because she was expecting her second child.
When she returned to the federal government, it was initially for short-term jobs with the Veterans Administration and Small Business Administration. She then worked six years with the Bureau of Land Management. She returned to the NPS on November 1, 1981, as an equal opportunity technician at DSC.
By then her first marriage had ended. She met DSC employee Joel Kussman, and they married in 1983. That same year she was promoted to equal opportunity specialist. She became the equal opportunity manager for both DSC and NPS Rocky Mountain Region in April 1987. In spite of her role as an EEO manager, one person told her “promoting someone like [her] would demean the organization.”
In a 1985 oral history interview, Córdova-Kussman was asked about issues facing women. She replied, “I still see a very difficult time for women to compete for jobs. Women are filtering into the system gradually but men have been in the workforce longer. It takes a while for them to filter in. I foresee in the future that women, particularly as they gain more experience, are going to be very competitive.”
At the time Córdova-Kussman was also dismayed by the lack of support women who had made it into management positions were giving to those still looking to move up. “In the Rocky Mountain Region, I’ve seen a tendency of women managers [to be] very negative and selfish with the power. They do not encourage other women, they do not support other women, they don’t provide a support system. I think it is very negative on their part, it’s negative on the organization, and their employees. If you are a mature person there is no reason you can’t be a role model for someone.”
She also discussed the employment opportunities for people of color in the NPS Rocky Mountain Region in the mid-1980s, saying, “The rate of promotion potential for minorities is almost non-existent. To get a promotion they usually have to leave the agency or go to another region. I’d say it is even more so for a woman minority—there is no promotion potential. As you go back East I know you see probably a lot of Black women rangers. Here we have none. We have one Black male ranger in this region. We have a lot of Native Americans. As far as Hispanics are concerned, there are very few. Even those who apply or are qualified for the position are very disenchanted or discouraged. I don’t know if it is just blatant discrimination but that’s what I’m beginning to think.” A decade later there were still only 258 full-time, permanent Latinas working for the NPS.
To advance her career Córdova went back to school, earning a degree in political science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1991 she received a service award from the Department of the Interior. That same year she visited Yellowstone National Park and decided that it was time to change direction. Looking to get out of the regional office and into a field position, Córdova completed acting superintendent assignments at Curecanti National Recreation Area and Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
In January 1993, at age 41, Córdova was appointed superintendent at Colorado National Monument. With the position she became the first Hispanic female superintendent in the NPS, although she had to take a downgrade in pay to get the position, something that her “white counterparts, male and female [didn’t have to do].”
In a 1995 article in The Daily Sentinel she noted, “I had to prove that I could handle the job before they would consider me.” She also pointed out that she didn’t get the job because she was a woman of color. “Affirmative action was created for equal opportunity, solely for that.” She remarked, “Twenty or thirty years ago there’s no way I would have been allowed to apply for this job. In 1969, the year I graduated from high school, they had vacancies for park rangers, but the vacancies said only men need apply.”
At Colorado National Monument, Córdova worked on issues such as traffic safety, vandalism, and community outreach. She also represented the NPS on the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant Commission. In 1995 she married Ted Sanchez in Bonito, Colorado.
Córdova was superintendent at Colorado for about six years. In 1999 she became superintendent at Petroglyph National Monument. She was still the only Hispanic woman superintendent in the NPS. In an interview with High Country News, she candidly said, “I worry about being considered an ‘affirmative action hire.’ I hope I was hired for my experience and skills.” She also noted, "There's nobody who has ever walked in my shoes before. Sometimes you feel isolated; you're a target.”
Petroglyph had been established nine years earlier to be cooperatively managed by the NPS and the City of Albuquerque Open Space Division. Córdova faced many management challenges, including preparing a general management plan, trail development and maintenance, and a six-lane highway proposed to run through a corner of the monument.
In 2003 Córdova transferred to the Intermountain Regional Office, working in the National Trails Office in Santa Fe. She retired in 2004, after 29 years of government service.
Sources:
“Council celebrates first.” (1996, April 14). Albuquerque Journal, p. 30.Cleary, C. Patrick. (1994, May 29). “Public Lands Battle Scourge of Vandalism.” The Daily Sentinel.
Johnson, Doug. (1998, March 20). “Highway Plans Run Over Corner of Monument: Indians, Environmental Group Say Resulting Encroachment Would Spoil Petroglyph Cultural Art Treasures.” The Spokane-Review.
Kussman, Judy Cordova and Joel interview. (May 8, 1985). Polly Kaufman Collection. NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center.
“Out in the field.” (1993, February 6). The Hanford Sentinel.
Silbernagel, B. (1992, November 3). “Monumental Task.” The Daily Sentinel.
Silbernagel, B. (1995, June 4). “Park Superintendent: Job Was in No Way a Gift.” The Daily Sentinel.
Smith, Christopher. (1995, October 23). “Park Service Workers Call for Colorblind Agency.” The Salt Lake Tribune.
Woolf, J. (1995, October 23). “Tourism’s Target a Limited One.” The Salt Lake Tribune.
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To learn more about Women and the NPS Uniform, visit Dressing the Part: A Portfolio of Women's History in the NPS.
This research was made possible in part by a grant from the National Park Foundation.